NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
AND REMINDER 
Vol. XII 
PERSONS who make the 
North Shore their ob- 
Manchester, Mass., Friday, May 22, 1914 No. 21 
Marblehead and Aviation 
Historic Town One of Prominence in Sailing Sports—via Air or Water 
"By J. FRANK REYNOLDS 
littie combination shack «and 
camp, where Mr. Burgess 
jective point each. summer 
have now become quite ac- 
ecustomed to the sight of an 
occasional areoplane skim- 
ming above their heads. On 
nearly every pleasant day 
during the summer months 
the air-raft is seen hovering 
above some of the islands 
in Salem Bay or vieing with 
motorists on shore. The 
part which the historic town 
of Marblehead has had in 
history of aviation in this 
country is no small one. ; 
It has been the birth-place of many improve- 
ments and additions to the equipment of the original 
air-machine with which the public is familiar. The 
reason for Marblehead’s pre-eminence in the science 
of aviation is found in the plant of the Burgess Co. 
aid Curtis, located on Marblehead harbor, and over- 
looking the course where the big international boat 
races are held each year. Within the past five years 
the Burgess company has made aviation history and 
has done much to make the art of flying more of a 
pleasurable and safe sport than a profession. | 
In the spring of 1908 aviation enthusiasts ap- 
proached W. Starling Burgess. who was then experi- 
eneing a successful development of his yachting busi- 
ness, moved to his new plant at Marblehead a few 
years ago. These men so enthused him with the possl- 
bilities of navigating the air and developing the new 
science that he immediately aimed to produce an aero- 
plane which would meet the government’s exacting re- 
quirements and secure a prize of some $20,000 for the 
first aeroplane for the United States army. — It will 
be remembered that Orville Wright had been experi- 
menting for the preceding three of four years both in 
Kittyhakk, N. C., and in Dayton, O., in air-craft. 
After looking the field over thoroughly it became 
evident to Mr. Burgess that the time was too short to 
compete for the prize; but his interest had been awak- 
ened and since then he has given his attention to 
nothing else. He then built two or three aeroplanes 
of varying designs, incorporating new ideas with those 
of others and a flying field was secured on 
Plum Island, near Newburyport. In 1909 and ’10 visi- 
tors on the North Shore often noticed looking seaward 
a little old-fashioned steam tug hauling an equally old- 
faishoned barge on which were piled wings, motors, 
rudders and various parts of experimental air-craft. 
These were en route up through Gloucester and_ the 
’Squam river to Plum Island, there to be housed in a 
Water. 
1. Burgess-Dunne Hydroaeroplane Resting Lightly on the 
‘*Self-balancing.’’ 
and his frienas lived until a 
favorable day arrived to take 
out the machines and_ test 
them. Many flights, from 
those of short distance to 
others of many miles, were 
taken,—always disastrous to 
the; aeroplanes, So) ‘careful 
was Mr. Burgess, however, 
that no one was ever injured 
in the flights and the ma 
chines were always rebuilt, 
with an ever-increasing fund 
of experience to their credit. 
Early in 1910 Greeley S. 
Curtis, then of New York, organized the Burgess Co. & 
Curtis. A number of successful flying machines were 
then built, and were tried out at the first aviation meet 
at Squantum and also at Long Island, N. Y. Plum Is- 
land was forever given up and at Kittyhakk the practical 
construction and flying begun. Early in rg1rt the Bur- 
gess company obtained from the Wright company the 
only right extended to use machines containing their 
principles. This contract is typical of Mr. Burgess’s pol- 
icy,— namely, to make use of the best, latest and most 
efficient construction and incidentally, the safest, regard- 
less of all other considerations. 
The Wright machine of 1911 demonstrated its 
superiority over types evolved by others and thence 
during that year Mr. Burgess built a refined type of 
Wrigkt machine. One was immediately sold to the 
United States government for their first aeroplane fleet ; 
a number of others were entered for general flying all 
over the country. It will be recalled that with one 
of these machines Harry N. Atwood, under guidance 
of Mr. Burgess, made the first long cross-country flight 
in this country and one of the longest in the world; 
the course was from St. Louis to New York, the trip 
taking less than a week, without a single repair, even 
to motor or flying equipment. Ilow many autoists to- 
Gay can claim a record of this kind? 
Everyone interested in aviation knew by the sum- 
mer of 1911 that until the aeroplane was greatly per- 
fected its progress would be largely lmited to land 
flying and no one had yet tried to build a marine air- 
eraft. Early in the fall of that year Mr. Burgess be- 
ean designs for a special hydroplane which could be 
attached to a Wright machine. The experiment was 
succesful and the first water flying began at Marble- 
head, October 27, 1911. Since then the yachting town 
has led the world in the development of marine air- 
evaft, and so great has the success been that the United 
States army is training its officers with Burgess ‘planes, 
